Meet Dr. Keith Ablow, Fox News’ Anti-LGBT Pop Psychologist

September 26, 2011 12:03 pm ET by Carlos Maza

If
you’ve been following the ongoing controversy over Chaz Bono’s participation on
ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, you’ve probably heard of Dr. Keith Abow.
Ablow is a psychiatrist, Fox News contributor, and current member of Fox News’
“Medical A-Team.” Fox frequently relies on Ablow
to provide “expert”
commentary on an incredibly wide range of issues, including sexual orientation
and gender identity.

He is also a seemingly endless fountain of
right-wing and anti-LGBT misinformation. Long before he asserted that kids
could be turned transgender by watching Chaz Bono on television, Ablow was
railing against boys with pink toenails and comparing homosexuality to
pedophilia. In fact, Ablow’s history with Fox News is riddled with examples of
pseudoscience, misinformation, and unethical behavior.

Ablow Has Used Fox News To Promote
Anti-LGBT Pseudoscience

As
a Fox News contributor, Ablow has been a
reliable source of anti-LGBT misinformation and
fear mongering.

This
past April, he initiated a right-wing meltdown
over a J. Crew advertisement which depicted designer Jenna Lyons painting her
son’s toe nails pink. Ablow condemned the ad as a form of “psychological
sterilization” that would encourage children to “grotesquely amputate” their
body parts. The day after Ablow’s column was published on FoxNews.com, Ablow
went on Fox Business Network's America’s
Nightly Scoreboard to continue his war on J. Crew, calling the ad an
“attack
on masculinity.”

Just
last month, Ablow posted two separate columns on FoxNews.com linking
homosexuality to pedophilia. The first
column, posted on August 11, claimed that pedophiliaand homosexuality can be shaped
and “kindled” by one’s environment. The second column was less subtle, hinting that homosexuality
could be considered a mental illness in certain instances and predicting that
“culture is poised to begin embracing pedophilia as a lifestyle choice,
just like homosexuality.”

And then there's Ablow’s
crusade against Chaz Bono which actually
began well before Dancing with the Stars announced this season’s roster.
In May, Ablow published a FoxNews.com column
accusing Bono of suffering from a “psychotic delusion.” Fox pulled down the
column shortly after posting.

In September, just one day after Fox anchor Megyn
Kelly lamented the “hate” being directed at Bono for participating in the Dancing with the Stars competition, Ablow
published on FoxNews.com his now infamouscolumn, where he advised parents not to let their children watch the
show for fear that watching could “kindle” the desire to become transgender.
During several appearances on Fox, Ablow defended his column, comparing
transgender people to people suffering from anorexia
and heroin
addiction.

Ablow’s
comments were quickly picked up by Bryan Fischer, spokesman for the American
Family Association, which has been labeled an anti-gay hate
groupby the Southern Poverty Law
Center. Fischer was thrilled to see a medical professional
echo his anti-trans talking points:

Now Dr. Keith Ablow … got a very powerful column on Fox News.
I mean I thought I was reading something that was written by somebody here at
the American Family Association … Dr. Keith Ablow, he is a
psychiatrist, he’s a psychiatrist so he specializes in mental disorders
and mental illnesses, and he’s a member of the Fox News “Medical A-Team.” So
this guy is a professional. He’s not somebody in the pro-family movement. He’s
a medical doctor, a practicing psychiatrist. [emphasis
added]

Despite
Fischer’s glowing review, Ablow’s column was quickly rejected by mainstream
psychiatric organizations. Dr. John M. Oldham, president of the American
Psychiatric Association (APA), issued a statement explicitly rejecting Ablow’s claim that watching Chaz Bono on
television might convince children to become transgender. Dr. Jack Drescher,
Distinguished Fellow at the APA and a member of the DSM-5 Workgroup on Sexual
and Gender Identity Disorders, criticized Ablow for substituting “accurate scientific
knowledge” with his own personal bias:

Wouldn’t it be more helpful to offer scientific data rather
than sensationalized, detailed descriptions of sex reassignment surgery or
metaphors about double amputees to support the views Dr. Ablow “believes to be
true?”

[…]

Dr. Ablow is within his rights to express personal opinions
about transgender people. However, as a psychiatrist speaking in a public
forum, his audience is entitled to accurate scientific knowledge of a complex
subject rather than opinions, scare tactics and inflammatory language.

Therefore the premise that watching 5 or 10 episodes of a
television show of a person dancing would have any influence — much less a
life-defining, definitive impact — on a person’s sexual- or self-identity is
simply hogwash. There’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support such a
ridiculous premise. It’s simply the personal opinion of a single individual who
is promoting a specific prejudice against people he feels are broken and
are in need of his help.

So I have to wonder — is this kind prejudice and passing
judgment about a person he’s never seen professionally really the kind of thing
one should expect from a respected mental health professional such as Dr.
Ablow? Is spouting off about “vulnerable” children a responsible, thoughtful
opinion, when a professional such as Dr. Ablow is in a position to help educate
and dispel the myths so often associated with difficult issues such as sexual-
and self-identity?

Or is Dr. Ablow simply perpetuating the stereotypes and
pop-psychology nonsense professionals like himself have been doing for decades
about things like child development? [emphases
added]

Ablow Consistently Comments On Issues
Outside Of His Expertise

Unfortunately,
Ablow’s attempt to disguise his personal opinion as scientific knowledge isn’t
limited to LGBT issues. Ablow has positioned himself as a chronically
misinformed jack-of-all-trades, never hesitating to share his thoughts about
issues on which he has no actual expertise.

Ablow’s
work on FoxNews.com has been equally absurd. Headvocated
allowing men to veto abortions, determined that marriage is a “dying institution”due, in part, to the existence of the birth control pill, and
compared watching MTV to cocaine use.

For
the record, Ablow is not a psychologist. He is
board certified in general and forensic psychiatry. The distinction
between psychology and psychiatry is significant, as Dr. Grohol noted in an
email to Equality Matters:

I should note that Dr. Ablow carries board certification both
in general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry, so he can largely speak on any
issue that psychiatry covers. However, I might also note that psychiatrists
are primarily trained as medical doctors, not experts in human behavior
(which training they pick up only in their residency). Psychologists are
trained for 5 years in human behavior, and are usually better equipped to
discuss a wider range of human behavior. [emphasis added]

Despite
being largely unqualified to comment on the vast majority of these topics,
Ablow is consistently referred to as a member of the Fox News “Medical A-Team.”
Because Ablow is treated as an all-encompassing medical expert, his outrageous
comments are granted a degree of credibility that they rarely, if ever,
deserve.

In
his email, Dr. Grohol explained that Ablow is “expanding upon” an already
widespread problem with “media doctors”:

Doctors like Dr. Ablow who also become "media
doctors" are often asked to speak on a wider range of topics than they
were perhaps originally tapped to talk about. In my opinion, this is largely an
issue of availability and access -- a doctor such as Dr. Ablow is simply more
readily available and has the media contacts in order to expedite an interview.

For instance, Dr. Drew Pinsky is trained as an internist and only later became
certified as an "addictionologist," but is also seen as a sex expert
due to his work on the radio call-in show. He might not go quite as far in
talking about any topic under the sun, but he does talk about sex,
relationships, and celebrities he has never seen as well (which is in violation
of the APA's code of ethics for psychiatrists).

So I believe this propensity for branching out and feeling like one is able to
speak with authority on a wide range of topics that are only marginally
related to one's area of practice or expertise is endemic to media doctors in
general. I think if you looked at all media doctors, you'd find most of
them do this to some degree or another. It's my opinion that Dr. Ablow may
simply be expanding upon that existing propensity. [emphasis added]

Ablow Has A History Of Dealing In
‘Pop Psychology’

Even
before joining Fox News’ “Medical A-Team,” Ablow was working to distinguish
himself as a typical “media doctor.”

In
2003, he was the executive producer of “Expert
Witness,” a dramatic pilot that CBS decided not to pick up. Three years
later, he began hosting the short-lived, syndicatedThe Dr. Keith Ablow Show, but it failed to attract much
of an audience. According to TV Series Finale:

The show’s stated goal was to “help individuals, couples and
families cope with the personal challenges they face in today’s world, and
develop strategies that can help them lead more fulfilling lives.” Many of the
early shows seemed to focus less on viewer problems and more on high-profile
stories like the Jon Bonnet Ramsey murder, Tori Spelling’s break-up, Anna
Nicole Smith’s family, and former American Idol finalists
(scheduled for this Friday) – shows geared purely towards getting high
ratings. It didn’t work.

Ablow
is also famed for practicing “Street Therapy” – literally approaching strangers on the
street with a video camera and attempting to resolve whatever mental health
issues they have within a matter of minutes. In one segment posted to his
YouTube account, Ablow approaches a stilt-walker and hypothesizes that the
performer is attempting to compensate for being short during his teenage years
(psychiatry!).

When
he is not analyzing stilt-walkers on the
street, Ablow is a prolific author. He has
written a number of self-help books – including one co-authored by Glenn Beck. He
has also written six
novels featuring Frank Clevenger, a fictional forensic psychiatrist from
Massachusetts.

Considering
his busy schedule it’s not surprising that Ablow hasn’t had the time to publish
even a single piece of peer-reviewed researchin the psychiatric field. A search through the American Psychiatric Association’s online
database doesn’t bring up a single article written by Ablow in any major
psychiatric journal. Searching through the online databases of the American Psychological Association and the US
National Library of Medicine returns similar results. Gregory Herek,
professor in the UC Davis Department of Psychology and an
expert on sexual orientation issues, echoed these findings (or lack thereof) in
an email to Equality Matters:

As best I can tell, he hasn't ever published empirical
research in a refereed journal in psychology or psychiatry.

I
guess that when you’re helping “America’s Next Top Model” mend her relationship with her
twin sister, there isn’t much time left for actual scholarship.

Do Ablow’s
Actions Violate Professional Ethics Standards?

Ablow’s
Fox News appearances do more than just misinform;
they are ethically questionable. The American
Psychiatric Association’s Code of Ethics states that “[a] psychiatrist who regularly practices outside his or her area of
professional competence should be considered unethical. The guidelines
also require that psychiatrists provide “competent medical care with compassion
and respect for human dignity.” On both counts, Ablow’s
actions are troubling.

Moreover,
APA ethical guidelines prohibit psychiatrists from evaluating public figures
without a prior formal examination and “proper authorization” for the figure
being evaluated:

3. On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about
an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed
information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances,
a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric
issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a
professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been
granted proper authorization for such a statement.

Ablow
has made a Fox News career of offering pseudoscientific evaluations of a number
of public figures, typically without their
consent and never on the basis of anything more than a few quotes and cursory
observations.

Even
before asserting that Chaz Bono suffers from a “psychotic delusion,” Ablow had
accused Media Matters founderand chairman David Brock of being “full of self-hatred,” theorized that Bill Maher harbors a
“deep-seated” hatred of women, and said President
Obamamust engage in
“introspection” to determine if he has “prejudice…
towards white people.”

Considering
Ablow’s history of misinformation, pseudoscience, and unethical behavior, it’s
no surprise that he was so willing to publicly announce (on Fox News, of course) his resignation
from the American Psychiatric Association
earlier this month. In response to Ablow’s announcement, Dr. Drescher told Equality
Matters:

The American Psychiatric Association is an organization with
38,000 members that provides a big enough tent for a wide range of views and
differences of opinion. It is regrettable that Dr. Ablow is leaving the
psychiatric mainstream simply because APA doesn't agree with his opinions about
transgender people. If he ever reconsiders his decision, I know that APA
will welcome him back.